First-person testimony · Part III

Sagun Meru Naik

Context

The Satcharitra (Chapter 26) records Mr. Sagun, a hotel-proprietor near Dixit's Wada, as a Baba-devotee. When Gopal Narayan Ambadekar of Poona — after seven years of misfortune — came to Shirdi resolved to throw himself into a well, Mr. Sagun came out of his hotel and asked: "Did you ever read this Akkalkotkar Maharaja's life?" The book he handed Ambadekar opened to a story whose exact match to Ambadekar's situation (a devotee saved from drowning himself by Akkalkotkar Maharaj) became Baba's all-pervasive intervention that prevented the suicide.

About the 1936 statement

Sagun Meru Naik's own 1936 statement (page 284 of Part III) preserves the witness's account of the Ambadekar episode and his other Baba-experiences.

Verbatim excerpt from Narasimha Swami (1940s)

ve Baba’s Udhi and Tirtha -which acted at once and resulted in his vomiting out all the poisonous stuff he has swallowed. After all this was over, Vasudev mentioned that he had given the Peppermint to his two year old younger brother. Evidently the latter ate but little, as there was no trouble. But to expel what little he might have swallowed, we administered our emetic, viz., Udhi and water with Baba’s name to him and he had a good vomit. A cashier in an office was in trouble last year about Rs.3,500 which was not accounted for. A friend advised him to go to me and he came.That cashier disliked Baba, as Baba was a ‘Mahomedan’ But when he came to me, I told him that his sole sanctuary was the Sai Man dir at Shirdi, and that he should go there and make a heartfelt apology and appeal for help. He went there, got a photo of Baba and with the help of Sagun Naik placed it at the samadhi, prayed there and came back with the photo. Things then began to brighten up. He was allowed eight days time to pay up the Rs.3,500. He went up, got money and paid it. The matter was closed. There was neither dismissal nor prosecution. Similar help was rendered by Baba in an other case, Mr.VC.

Source: B. V. Narasimha Swami, Devotees' Experiences of Sri Sai Baba (All India Sai Samaj, Madras, 1940s; reprint Akhanda Sainama Sapthaha Samithi, Hyderabad). PDF on Internet Archive · OCR full text. Excerpt matched on the term: Sagun Naik. This is the canonical English excerpt; please consult the original PDF for context.